


Telling Without Talking

by collectingnames



Series: Clayleb Week 2019 [3]
Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: ClayLeb Week 2019, Confessions, Crushes, First Kiss, Fluff, M/M, Minor Injuries, Mutual Pining, Pining, clayleb - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-06
Updated: 2019-11-06
Packaged: 2021-01-24 18:06:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,334
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21342466
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/collectingnames/pseuds/collectingnames
Summary: Caleb cooks for Caduceus, it's his way of trying to say 'I love you'-----Caduceus didn’t think anything of it earlier when he heard the soft clinking and clattering of dishes in the kitchen sink.  Probably just someone remembering that they’re out of clean spoons.  He'd already put it out of mind when he went up to the tower to tend to the garden.  Maybe Caleb would come up and join him, pry his face out of his books and enjoy the magical daylight strung from the tree.
Relationships: Caduceus Clay/Caleb Widogast
Series: Clayleb Week 2019 [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1536146
Kudos: 80





	Telling Without Talking

**Author's Note:**

> A bit late but it's here, technical issues and whatnot. For day 3! "Sparks" confessions/crushes

Caduceus didn’t think anything of it earlier when he heard the soft clinking and clattering of dishes in the kitchen sink. Probably just someone remembering that they’re out of clean spoons. He'd already put it out of mind when he went up to the tower to tend to the garden. Maybe Caleb would come up and join him, pry his face out of his books and enjoy the magical daylight strung from the tree. Not likely, Caleb had far more interesting things to be doing than lazing around in the garden. Probably didn’t think about him as much as he thought about him. But he could put the wandering thoughts out of mind by absorbing himself in the minutiae of his gardening. 

He was kneeling over one of the flowerbeds when he glanced up and was suddenly met with shiny black boots. Looking up the rest of the way he was met with Caleb, a sheepishness settled over his shoulders, fresh stains across his tunic. Maybe a smudge of something on his cheek that had gone undetected. Caleb’s hair was falling out of its messy low ponytail. Little wisps of copper haloing his face. 

"Need help with something, Mr. Caleb?" He set aside the gardening tools and brushed his hands off on his pants.

"Well, um, no, it's just. It seems our friends are all occupied doing one thing or another in town so it's just us right now. And I thought I would try and throw something together," He tried to brush some flour off his tunic.

He slowly brought himself back to his feet, a little stiff from spending most of the day knelt over, "You made dinner?"

" _ Ja _ , I wasn't really getting anywhere with my notes so I figured I could cook," He tried smiling, despite his blatant nervousness.

_ He’s cute, all blushy like this _ . “Just give me a minute to wash up and I’ll be right down.”

“ _ Ja, ja,  _ I should uh, I should probably clean up too. It was um, it was messier than I had expected. I haven’t cooked that in forever,” Caleb tried to brush off the mess from his front.

He clapped a hand onto his shoulder good-naturedly, “What’s got you so nervous?”

“ _ I need to clean up _ ,” he shrugged out of his grip and dashed back downstairs.

‘Huh,’ he mused out loud to himself before meandering over to the fountain. He didn’t need to be  _ pristine _ , just clean, most of it was on his clothes anyway. The water was cold and bracing when he dunked his face into it. Checking his reflection in the water revealed his own clean face staring back up at him.  _ Hmmm, really need to trim back the sides soon _ . It only took a few minutes before he was standing in the doorway to the kitchen. Caleb didn’t hear him coming though, still in the middle of frantically setting two places a the table.

“Want any help with that?” He spoke up from his spot in the doorway.

“No, no, I’ve got it. Just, one second, I’m almost done, please, take a seat,” he gestured vaguely in the direction of a chair while he kept readjusting a place setting, deadset on making it perfectly straight.

He sat down and looked over Caleb’s shoulder at the pile of dirty dishes in the sink, “How long ago did you give up on your notes?”

Caleb chuckled under his breath, “About as soon as I started.”

“Gave you that much trouble?”

“Dunamancy feels like learning magic all over again, Mr. Clay. The theory behind it is all different. The other schools, they, they are attuning yourself to the magic. It flows. Dunamancy is forcing the magic to your will. It is all harsh edges and angles. Geometric, I would call it geometric,” he realized that his hands had gone from fixing the settings to speaking with his hands, “I uh, sorry, got distracted.”

“No, no, don’t apologize. It’s nice to hear you so excited. What did you make?”

“Oh gods, I haven’t made this in forever,  _ although technically I suppose I never made it by myself _ ,  _ Kartoffel Kloesse _ . I sort of just cobbled a recipe together from what I could find in your cookbooks and what little I could remember.  _ Itmighthavemostlybeentrialanderrorthough _ ,” He whipped around and grabbed a dish of something off the counter and set it down.

“Huh, Zemnian, I’m assuming?” 

“I don’t know much else, unless you would really rather have Whatever-the-Fuck-I-Can-Find soup. Oh! The tea! I almost forgot!” The whistling kettle on the stove behind him yanked his attention away.

_ Tea? I’m close to out of all of it, did you use up the last of it?  _

Caleb said something that caught his attention, ears pricking up without meaning to, “I found this tea vendor in town.” His voice grew painfully soft, “I found a blend that reminded me of you.”

_ You thought of me? _ That shouldn’t be surprising. Why was he surprised? No, not surprised. The casual surprise didn’t feel like this. He was surprised all the time. This, it made something warm spark in his chest. That’d be nice, if these sparks could light him up more often. Those sparks that Caleb could draw out of him as simply as casting a spell. 

Caleb’s hands shook as he tried to pour him a cup, “I didn’t recognize any of the stuff he said was in it. But it all sounded like things that would have caught your eye.”

He shot to his feet and put his hands over Caleb’s to steady him when he nearly spilled the scalding-hot tea all over his hands, “Whoa! Easy! Are you okay? What’s-?” 

_ Oh… _

“You didn’t have to do that,” his voice low and breathy when he tried to get himself to speak, but straightforward words seemed to be escaping both of them now.

“I wanted to.”

“Anything else you’ve been wanting to do, Mr. Caleb?”

“No need to be so formal,” Caleb’s gaze still hadn’t left his once since he’d taken his hands in his own.

“Unless you’re really  _ that _ thirsty for a cup, maybe you should put the kettle down before you do anything else,” he tried joking away the tension bleeding out of them.

Caleb dropped the kettle so fast it splashed up all over his hands when it hit the table, “ ** _Arschloch!_ ** ”

“ _ Oh my gods! _ Are you okay?! Here! Let me.”

Caduceus lunged to snatch a washcloth off the counter and wrap it around his hands. Caleb winced but didn’t protest just slumped forward, resting his head against Caduceus’s chest. He let his free hand rest at the small of Caleb’s back, in a gesture that came far too easily to him. With his other hand, he tilted Caleb’s chin up to look at him.

“Better?” 

Caleb gripped tight onto Caduceus’s shirt, face turning bright red, “I ah, I was going to kiss you.”

“You still can,” he felt his heart flutter in his chest.

Caleb tugged down with more force than he’d been expecting, crashing them together in a kiss. Something clumsy and overexcited and it took them a second to find the rhythm. But he didn’t want it to end, this weird little domestic bubble they’d found themselves in. How long had Caleb felt this way too? 

Caduceus broke the kiss first, holding Caleb’s face in his hands, “You’re a good kisser.”

“Then kiss me again, Caduceus.”

Caduceus lifted Caleb just enough that his toes brushed against the floor when he couldn’t get a good enough angle. Caleb wrapped his arms around Caduceus’s neck, but didn’t deepen it, seemingly not pressing any further than he thought he would want. He brought a hand up to Caleb’s cheek. This was perfect, not quite, he couldn’t get close enough.

When they finally managed to let go of each other again Caduceus couldn’t help but chuckle, “I think we may have gotten a little distracted.”

“In all fairness,” Caleb tangled a hand in Caduceus’s hair, “you are a  _ very  _ good distraction.”


End file.
